A ground-floor apartment in the castle. Through a window a large garden is seen. A balcony. JAGO on this side of the balcony, CASSIO on the garden side.

JAGO: Do not fret.If you trust in me, you will soon enjoy againthe flighty favors of Mistress Bianca,proud captain, with your hilt of goldand figured baldric.CASSIO: Do not flatter me . . .JAGO: Attend to what I say.You just know that Desdemona isthe leader of our leader,he lives for her alone.Beg that generous soul to intercede for youand your pardon is sure.CASSIO: But how shall I speak with her?JAGO: 'Tis her custom to stroll in the shadeof those trees with my wife.Wait for her there.Now the way of salvation is open to you;go then.[CASSIO moves away. JAGO alone.]JAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Go then;I see your end already.Your evil genius drives you on,and I am your evil genius.And my drags me on, implacable Godin whom I believe.[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]I believe in a cruel God who has created mein his image and whom, in hate, I call upon.me like himself; cruel and vile he made me.From some vile germ or base atomwas I born.I am evilbecause I am a man;and I feel the primeval slime in me.Yes! This is my creed!I believe with a firm heart,just as does the young widow in church,that the evil I think and which from me proceedswas decreed for me by fate.I believe that the honest man is a mocking buffoon,and in his face and in his heart,everything in him is a lie:tears, kisses, glances,sacrifice and honor.And I believe man to bethe sport of a wicked fate,from the germ of the cradleto the worm of the grave.And after this derision comes Death.And then? And then?Death is nothingness.Heaven is an old wives' tale.

We've actually got six pretty good performances here, and an interesting variety. We're going to hear them all in their entirety (and in fact a number of the singers do some of their best work in sections other than those I've assigned them, but hey, we needed coverage of the whole piece. I think we'll identify the performers when we hear their whole performances.

You'll note, by the way, that I've overlapped the sections a little to provide some sense of continuity. I originally expected that I would offer some pithy, possibly illuminating comments on each section. But the more time I've spent breaking breaking the "Credo" down, the less pithful I've felt. It's all there in the words and music -- that is, as long as performers don't turn it into cartoon words and music.

[A] "Vanne; la tua meta già vedo"

JAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Go then;I see your end already.Your evil genius drives you on,and I am your evil genius.And my drags me on, implacable Godin whom I believe.[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]

I believe that the honest man is a mocking buffoon,and in his face and in his heart,everything in him is a lie:tears, kisses, glances,sacrifice and honor.And I believe man to bethe sport of a wicked fate,from the germ of the cradleto the worm of the grave.

Oh yes, and most obviously, but not unimportantly, venting. His inner self is so wholly closed off to everyone around him -- with the likely exception of his wife, Emilia (who's reduced to a really minor role in the opera, but we can still guess that she's familiar with both his dishonesty and his destructiveness) -- and so masterful at disguising his true feelings and intentions that at this crucial moment in his scheming it's hardly surprising that what comes out of him in this totally private moment is so intense, even violent.

But also dishonest. There's a tendency to think, but he's alone, speaking to himself, so why would he lie? For many of the same reason(s) we all lie to ourselves, and maybe some that are his own special province. See the partial list above.

I have keen memories of a moment from the last watchable season of MTV's Real World, ironically (or maybe not so ironically) the season in which the producers made the fateful turn from showing us how different people often are from the way we first perceive them to wallowing in alcohol and sexual titillation. It was a confessional moment from the very young, innocent-looking fellow from Boston who had (the viewer had come to realize) apparently intentionally been provoking behavior among some of his castmates which was horribly damaging both to themselves and to each other.

In that confessional moment he confessed to the camera that yes, he was lying and intentionally causing all that mayhem to his castmates and he was doing it because it gave him pleasure. For me, in an important sense this "explained" the fellow's behavior in a way that simply hadn't occurred to me. (Okay, I'd led a sheltered life.)

In reality, of course, it didn't "explain" anything about why it gave him pleasure to make people around him miserable, but it suggested where to begin rummaging around in his psyche. I should mention, for example, that the fellow was gay, which may matter not because of easily ascribable cause and effect but because of a likely link among behaviors that have to do with harshly imposed outsiderness and isolation from the "general population." (Remember, this was a lot of years ago, and those years have produced some then-unimaginable changes in the way we think about these things. I would guess, though, that this process of social isolating is far from extinct.)

And Boito, in the text for Jago's "Credo," has given us ample ground for speculation about what's going on inside.

For one thing, like that young Real World fellow, Jago is smart -- we might say scary-smart, both smarter than the people around him and smarter than they realize. For another thing, all that supposedly self-exculpatory stuff about his evil and primordial slimefulness is regurgitated more or less directly from this dear old nurturing Mother Church. He's done at least two things with the fundamental concept of "original sin," normally used by the Church to enslave its worshippers:

* raise the stakes by blaming it, not on that goddamned bitch Eve, but on the much more obvious culprit, her creator, and --

* turned it upside down, so that instead of its driving him on a fruitless quest for salvation it makes the very idea laughable.

One more thing we learn about Jago, as the monologue casts off bravado and quietly digs deeper into what makes him tick, he's wise to his smartypants Church's gamesmanship with regard to death. Oh, nearly all religions do it: Given their inability to do much about the here-and-now, they lay it off on the hereafter -- sometimes pleasingly, sometimes scarifyingly, and sometimes, if they dare try to get the balance right (it's the old carrot-and-stick principle), both. But Jago, as we see and especially hear in the final section of the "Credo," refuses to play this game. Or, rather, insists on playing it by more honest rules.

NOW LET'S HEAR THE COMPLETE "CREDO"S,IN THE ORDER WE HEARD THE EXCERPTS

Originally there was going to be a gallery of historical "Credo" recordings in this spot. I can't tell you how many hours I spent compiling them, but in the end I've exiled them to a separate "bonus" location, along with a curious coupling of performances featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Jago. Partly the idea was to break up this run of Fischer-Dieskau idolatry I seem to have stumbled into, first with his recording of Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser (the first one, mind you, the 1960 EMI one, not the later one for DG) and then with his c1960 recording with Jörg Demus of Schumann's "Widmung." In reality my feelings about him as a performer are wildly mixed.

Sunday Classics bonus: Some "Credo" value-addeds

This clip doesn't really add much value. It's just the other video "Credo" clip I found that was marginally less horrible than the rest. And, oh yes, it's got subtitles.

FOR AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT THIS MATERIAL ISAND WHAT IT'S DOING HERE, SEE TODAY'S MAIN POST

As explained there, we've got two leftover orders of business: (1) a mostly uncommentated sequence of "Credo" recordings, and (2) a juxtaposition of two additional performances featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Jago, first singing in German and then singing as if he were singing in German -- though you'll note that the two German-sung performances we hear in the "gallery," by Michael Bohnen and Heinrich Schlusnus, aren't like this at all.

A GALLERY OF "CREDO"S

Here's a vibrant 1908 recording by the outstanding baritone Antonio Magini-Coletti (1855-1912). You might also check out the great Pasquale Amato's 1911 recording.

The "Credo' has been a staple since the dawn of recordings, serving as a standard showpiece for baritones. I don't say that these are the "best" recordings. They're some that I happen to have (mostly in LPs that are hardly the last word technically) which I was able to lay hands on relatively quickly and which seem to me worth hearing, for a variety of reasons.

Eugenio Giraldoni will be known forever as the original Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, and he must have been formidable. (He did record a nice chunk of the Act II monologue, which we should probably hear sometime.) This was clearly a big, full, wide-ranging voice. Antonio Scotti had an enormous career (he sang at the Met from 1899 to 1933), and as a result is often remembered for singing that wasn't as strong as in his prime years, when he made his famous recordings with his frequent stage partner Enrico Caruso.

"Cannon-voiced" is the description that leaps to mind for Ruffo, for reasons that should be obvious from his "Credo," but it's far from an insensitive piece of singing. The thunderous Gino Bechi for obvious reasons recalled Ruffo. We've already heard him rage as Renato in Verdi's Masked Ball and Gérard in Giordano's Andrea Chénier; it's hardly surprising that he enjoys cutting loose in the "Credo."

The two Germans are both special singers. Most bass-baritones sort of fall between the bass and baritone ranges, but Michael Bohnen's voice had all the depth and fullness of a true bass and the ringing upper-range freedom of a great baritone. Heinrich Schlusnus will be familiar to Sunday Classics readers from our series of Tannhäuser posts. He sang a great deal of Verdi (usually, but not always, in German), but Jago seems to have disappeared from his repertory early on. At least this acoustical recording is the only "Credo" of his I have. (In fact, the only other Otello excerpt I have is the great "Si, pel ciel" duet with tenor Robert Hutt.)

The German-language performance is from a DG highlights ("Querschnitten," the Germans call them) LP with Wolfgang Windgassen as Otello and Teresa Stratas as Desdemona. The Italian-language complete performance of the opening scene of Act II is from a complete Otello conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (quite beautifully in this scene, I think), with James McCracken in the title role and Gwyneth Jones still in radiant voice as Desdemona -- an oddly frustrating recording, among whose frustrations there's perhaps none greater than Fischer-Dieskau's demented Jago.

A ground-floor apartment in the castle. Through a window a large garden is seen. A balcony. JAGO on this side of the balcony, CASSIO on the garden side.

JAGO: Do not fret.If you trust in me, you will soon enjoy againthe flighty favors of Mistress Bianca,proud captain, with your hilt of goldand figured baldric.CASSIO: Do not flatter me . . .JAGO: Attend to what I say.You just know that Desdemona isthe leader of our leader,he lives for her alone.Beg that generous soul to intercede for youand your pardon is sure.CASSIO: But how shall I speak with her?JAGO: 'Tis her custom to stroll in the shadeof those trees with my wife.Wait for her there.Now the way of salvation is open to you;go then.[CASSIO moves away. JAGO alone.]JAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Go then;I see your end already.Your evil genius drives you on,and I am your evil genius.And my drags me on, implacable Godin whom I believe.[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]I believe in a cruel God who has created mein his image and whom, in hate, I call upon.me like himself; cruel and vile he made me.From some vile germ or base atomwas I born.I am evilbecause I am a man;and I feel the primeval slime in me.Yes! This is my creed!I believe with a firm heart,just as does the young widow in church,that the evil I think and which from me proceedswas decreed for me by fate.I believe that the honest man is a mocking buffoon,and in his face and in his heart,everything in him is a lie:tears, kisses, glances,sacrifice and honor.And I believe man to bethe sport of a wicked fate,from the germ of the cradleto the worm of the grave.And after this derision comes Death.And then? And then?Death is nothingness.Heaven is an old wives' tale.

[11/25/2011] Preview: Verdi's Jago -- "I believe in a cruel God who created me in his image" (continued)

A ground-floor apartment in the castle. Through a window a large garden is seen. A balcony. IAGO on this side of the balcony, CASSIO on the garden side.

IAGO: Don't give up hope. But trust in me, and soonwe shall see you return to win the flighty favorsof Monna Bianca, once more a gallant captain,wearing your golden-hilted sword beside you.CASSIO: Do not deceive me . . .IAGO: Attend to what I tell you.Surely you know that Desdemona commands ournoble commander, she's the sun he lives by.All you must do is beg that generous ladyto plead for Cassio, then you will soon be pardoned.CASSIO: But how can I approach her?IAGO: It is her wont towalk every afternoon under that arborwith my good wife Emilia. So there await her.Now I've shown you the way to your salvation;take it.[CASSIO moves away. IAGO alone.]IAGO [gazing after CASSIO]: Take it; take the path to your ruin.Your evil genius drives you, your evil genius Iago,and I am driven onward by that relentless cruelGod I believe in.[Moving away from the balcony, no longer looking at CASSIO, who disappears through the trees.]Yes, I believe in a God who has createdme like himself; cruel and vile he made me.Born from some spawn of nature or from an atom,born into vileness.So I am evilbecause I'm human;primeval slime has left its vileness in me.Yes! This is my belief!Yes, for I believe, just as the credulouswidow in church believes in God,that all the evil that I do is destined,fate alone directs me.Man says he's honest, he is a clowning actorin his face and his heart;for all he does is falsehood:charity, kissing, kindness,and his striving's in vain.Yes, I believe man is the fool of fortune;the cradle holds an infantwho's born to feed the worm.Then, after life's deluded course, comes Death.And then? And then, there's nothing.And Heaven's a foolish tale.

AS JAGO DRAWS CASSIO MORE TIGHTLY INTO HISSCHEME TO DESTROY HIS COMMANDER, OTELLO . . .

Earlier, you'll recall (from either Shakespeare or Verdi-Boito), Jago has gotten Otello's second-in-command, Cassio, liquored up during the celebration of the great naval triumph over the Turks, then prodded him into making a drunken fool of himself, leading to his summary demotion in Jago's favor. Poor Cassio, though, is just a pawn in Jago's scheme to destroy Otello.

During the '50s and early '60s Tito Gobbi sang Jago all over the damned place. I like the performance from the Japanese video soundtrack, but as a late addition, for its superior sound, I decided to double up with the Rome studio recording made the following year.

Sunday, November 23, 2003

I was going to make audio files of Sam Ramey's rather gorgeous 1990 recordings of the piano-accompanied versions of the Copland arrangements of "At the River" and "Simple Gifts," but I couldn't find my copy of that Argo Copland-Ives CD, so we'll have to make do with this YouTube posting of all ten songs! Here's Set 1: the minstrel song "The Boatmen's Song," the campaign song "The Dodger" (3:07), the ballad "Long Time Ago" (5:10), the Shaker song "Simple Gifts" (8:14), and the children's song "I Bought Me a Cat" (10:07). (You'll find Set 2 below.) The pianist is Warren Jones.

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day (1904)

In the interest of sheer laziness, I'm recycling the two performances of Ives's Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day that I have on CD, which we've already heard. Maybe next year I'll be feeling ambitious enough to dub the performances by Leonard Bernstein and Donald Johanos, which I only have on LP.

is a holiday celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 22 . It is a commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 21, 1620. It was introduced in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1769. In adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary was erroneously established on December 22 instead of December 21.

Forefathers' Day is a well known and well celebrated holiday in Plymouth.

IVES: Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day(No. 4 of A Symphony: New England Holidays)

For a perhaps more conventionally euphonious Thanksgiving, here are the two Copland-arranged Copland's Old American Songs I intended to present originally, in Copland's orchestral-accompanied version (as we saw and heard Marilyn Horne and James Levine perform them at the start of this post).

I love the stereo recording of the orchestral version that Copland conducted with William Warfield in 1962. In 1951 and 1953, when Sets 1 and 2 of the Old American Songs were new, Warfield and Copland had recorded the original piano versions. (The photograph at left is from February 1951.) I know we've heard the 1953 piano-accompanied "At the River" (as well as "I Bought Me a Cat"), in November 2009), but I can't trace the "Simple Gifts," even though I made an audio file for it. We might as well throw it in here -- and, what the heck, the 1953 "At the River" as well.

COPLAND (arr.): "At the River"(from Set 2 of Old American Songs)

Shall we gather by the river,where bright angel's feet have trod,with its crystal tide forever,flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we'll gather by the river,the beautiful, the beautiful river,gather with the saints by the riverthat flows by the throne of God.

Here's Set 2 of the Copland-arranged Old American Songs, again with pianist Warren Jones: the lullaby "The Little Horses," the revivalist song "Zion's Walls" (3:24), the Anglo-American ballad "The Golden Willow Tree" (5:19), the hymn tune "At the River" (8:58), and the minstrel song "Ching-a-Ring Chaw" (11:56).